The Alumni Association of Bandung Institute of Technology (IA-ITB) has pledged to build 50 earthquake-resistant houses for quake survivors in Cianjur District, West Java Province.
“The construction of the houses will commence in January 2023,” IA-ITB Chairperson Gembong Primadjaja told participants of the alumni association’s national meeting here Saturday.
To this end, the IA-ITB has been coordinating with local authorities to determine areas that are appropriate for making these earthquake-proof houses, he said.
The houses are designed to enable them to get moved from one location to another so that they can later be used as public health centers or mushola (prayer rooms) if locals have no longer needed them,” he said.
Besides providing the affected residents with the quake-resistant houses, the IA-ITB would also establish at least 30 emergency tents in Cianjur, he said, adding that the IA-ITB would also apply a 3-D software.
The 3-D software, developed by the ITB graduates, could help those in need of analyzing prone-disaster areas and impacts of disaster in more detail.
“The government can use it for determining rotations and locations as well as reducing survey cost,” he added.
A 5.6-magnitude earthquake had jolted Cianjur District on November 21 at 1:21 p.m. local time.
The Cianjur district government revealed that the death toll from the recent earthquake had increased, from 334 on December 4 to 602 on December 14.
The number of houses brought down and severely damaged by the recent earthquake had also increased to 8,151.
“The number of severely damaged houses has increased, from 7,817 to 8,151 units. They all have been verified,” Secretary of the Cianjur District Government Cecep Alamsyah stated on December 4.
Alamsyah said the number of houses suffering moderate damages had also increased, from 10,589 to 11,210 units.
The number of houses with mild damages also went up, from 17,195 to 18,469 units, he remarked while adding that the earthquake had also severely damaged 525 school buildings, 269 houses of worship, 14 healthcare facilities, and 17 office buildings.
According to Alamsyah, the government has prepared 2.5 hectares of land in Sirnagalih Village to be used for building 200 earthquake-resistant houses.
Meanwhile, the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) has planned to build 500 units of temporary housing for Cianjur District’s residents whose houses were brought down and severely damaged by the recent deadly earthquake.
The temporary housing would be built in two villages in Cugenang Sub-district and Nagrak Village in Cianjur Sub-district, Coordinator of the PMI-Cianjur Office’s Disaster Emergency Response Unit Fajar Aciana noted in a recent statement.
Source: Antara News